The Maine DOE Office of Special Services is clarifying the calculation of local entitlement funds under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The federal requirement, maintenance of effort, may be calculated in four different ways:
Continue reading “Maine DOE clarifies calculation of Maintenance of Effort for IDEA funds”
Journal of Maine Education seeks manuscripts that discuss specific ways in which deeper learning is provided for students. Deeper learning is interacting with real world or simulated real world situations, often to solve relevant challenges. Students develop questions, connect with resources, research, challenge-solve, and communicate to an audience their findings and process.
Maine DOE’s Office of Special Services has revised Maine’s Learning Disability Evaluation Report form to adhere to the requirement in IDEA that no single measure or assessment is to be used as the sole criterion for determining whether a child is a child with a disability. With a previous version of the form, it was possible for the IEP team to look only at the data for the first question and make a determination of eligibility, whereas the new form will require that the team review data for all questions in the form before making that determination.
Continue reading “Office of Special Services announces new learning disability evaluation form”
When the revisions to the Maine Unified Special Education Regulation Birth to Age Twenty (MUSER) were approved during the legislative session just ended, they contained an error that was not caught before their enactment. Section X.2.A(1) states that consultation may be provided by special education teachers or speech/language clinicians or pathologists “as a related service.” That section should have read consultation may be provided by those individuals “as a special education service.” Consultation is a related service only when provided by other providers, such as occupational therapists or physical therapists, or by a speech/language clinician or pathologist to a child whose disability category is not speech or language impairment. The Maine DOE will seek to correct the language in this section of MUSER during the next legislative session.
For more information or if you have questions about consultation services, please contact the Maine DOE’s Roberta Lucas at roberta.lucas@maine.gov or 624-6676; or Jonathan Braff at jonathan.braff@maine.gov or 624-6671.
In response to new federal grant guidance issued by the Federal Office of Management and Budget, the Maine DOE is now required to offer the ability to recover indirect costs associated with management of federal grants to recipients of federal money passed through the Department. Indirect costs are system-wide, general management functions which support all sub-recipient initiatives.
Continue reading “Indirect cost rate application process announced”
The Maine DOE has unveiled a new application with a Sept. 30 deadline for annual gifted and talented program and budget approval. All school administrative units (SAU) are required to complete the condensed 2015-16 Initial Application this fall regardless of prior program approval.
Continue reading “New application and deadline for gifted and talented program approval”
The following priority notice was sent today to superintendents as a reminder all school personnel must complete suicide awareness and prevention training by the start of the 2015-16 school year.
Dear Superintendents,
Ensuring the safety of our students is a priority and a shared responsibility. Suicide awareness and prevention efforts are a part of safeguarding schools. To increase the potential of recognizing a student (or colleague) is in need of assistance, Maine passed the school-based suicide awareness and prevention law (LD 609, PL 53, DOE Rule Chapter 38) in April 2013.
Continue reading “Reminder to districts: Suicide awareness and prevention training”
The following Priority Notice was sent to transportation directors on Thursday, July 30.
Dear Transportation Directors and Business Managers,
The following data reports have upcoming deadlines and/or extensions.
For policy questions regarding EF-T-21 and EF-T-24, contact Transportation and Facilities Administrator Pat Hinckley at pat.hinckley@maine.gov.
For policy questions related to the EF-M-43, contact School Finance Coordinator Paula Gravelle at paula.b.gravelle@maine.gov.
For assistance with access to the NEO data system, contact the Maine DOE MEDMS Helpdesk at medms.helpdesk@maine.gov.
Thank you for your attention to these dates.
Sincerely,
Pat Hinckley, Transportation and Facilities Administrator
Maine Department of Education
The following Priority Notice was sent to superintendents and business managers on Thursday, July 30.
Dear Superintendents and Business Managers,
With the recent passage of the biennial budget, many school districts in Maine saw an increase in the amount of subsidy that they will receive from the State. We thought this would be a good time to explain some of the laws regarding how these additional funds can be used.
Welcome to the July issue of the Maine DOE Monthly, which provides a recap of some of the month’s news from the Department.
While we await the final results from this past spring’s statewide assessment for math and English language arts/literacy, all eyes are on what’s next. As you may recall, the legislature passed LD1276 terminating Maine’s membership in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. In response, a Standardized Assessment Task Force was created of Maine educators which first met in June to discuss the successes and needed areas of improvement of the last assessment. The group has since been engaged in a question and answer exchange that will act as a guide to help the Department draft a Request for Proposals (RFP). These proposals will be scored according to the RFP to determine which vendor will administer next year’s assessment. Your comments are welcome by visiting the Department’s Standardized Assessment Task Force page. | More
Everyone is waiting for the 2015 assessments results. Some states have already released results, but Maine school districts just received preliminary data mid-July and at this time, all information is being verified. The goal is to release the final data by the end of next month. While we want to showcase student growth in proficiency, we need to keep in mind this past year’s testing was the first, more rigorous testing of the past few years of implementing Maine’s Learning Standards, preparing for college and career readiness. | More
A survey for SAUs on proficiency-based implementation progress is currently underway. High schools have until August 27 to complete the survey. The information collected will help the Maine DOE chart progress toward the implementation of proficiency-based diplomas. This information will be shared with the public and with lawmakers and will inform the development of additional resources and supports for districts. The progress report will also create a moment-in-time snapshot of district progress. The Department expresses its gratitude to the Maine school districts that piloted this survey. Click here to complete the survey. | More
NEO may sound like a new summer flick, but it’s actually Maine DOE’s new data collection system. The New Educational Ontology (NEO) has the Department hosting 13 training sessions this summer across the state which began July 21 and wraps up August 26. The feedback from these sessions so far has been healthy as the agenda includes: changes in how student enrollment is uploaded, truancy, student security, and more. Two items of particular interest are the new procedure for graduation and drop out verification allowing districts to enter their data instead of the Department, and the new staff system. With the 2015-16 school year upon us, SAUs with new staff requiring access to NEO must contact the MEDMS Helpdesk.| More
Early this month, Maine DOE posted updated FY 2016 (2015-16 school year) State subsidy printouts, known as ED 279s, here on our website. This was a quick turnaround by The Department once the biennial budget (PL 2015 Ch. 267) was approved by the legislature. Maine DOE continues to provide districts guidance in how school finance statues impact their budgetary process. The Department also assists with clarifying timelines for districts to pass their budgets and keeps districts appraised of legislative action that may affect the budget process at the local level. | More
The Washburn Elementary School in Auburn has been awarded just over $1.63 million in a federal School Improvement Grant (SIG). The Maine DOE will monitor the school’s success in raising student proficiency in math and reading over the next five years. This grant will allow the struggling PreK-6 school to enhance educator effectiveness and instruction under the leadership of a new principal. The school will also hire two Instructional Coaches, three Ed Techs, a Pre-K Instructor, a Parent Liaison and a part-time Grant Coordinator. In addition, Washburn plans to provide upward of two additional days of structured staff time to review student data to inform interventions and instruction. | More
Just a few days remain for these reporting items:
